Judge — July 25, 1903 — page 16: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This 1903 Judge magazine page contains two satirical cartoons mocking working-class figures and labor dynamics. **Top cartoon**: A financier and merchant discuss a worker who demanded three dollars weekly wages. The financier jokes that the worker claimed he "hadn't noticed me tryin' to" pay him—mocking the worker's expectation of fair compensation while satirizing the employer's stinginess. **Bottom cartoon**: A "Fasting Farmer" (likely an Irish immigrant, suggested by the dialect) expresses surprise that insects possess intelligence because a bug didn't move when he tried to catch it. The satire mocks both rural/immigrant workers as simple-minded and suggests they lack basic reasoning. Both cartoons reflect early 20th-century American class prejudice: ridiculing laborers' wage demands and portraying working-class immigrants as intellectually inferior for comedic effect. This reflects the era's casual xenophobia and anti-labor sentiment common in mainstream publications.